IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v17y2024i4p154-d1374218.html

Separating Equilibria with Search and Selection Effort: Evidence from the Auto Insurance Market

Author

Listed:
  • David Rowell

    (Center for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH), School of Economics, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4067, Australia)

  • Peter Zweifel

    (Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Rämistr. 71, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the behavior of policyholders and insurance companies in the presence of adverse selection by accounting for costly search and selection efforts, respectively. Insurers seek to stave off high-risk types, while consumers are hypothesized to maximize coverage at a given premium. Reaction functions are derived for the two players giving rise to Nash equilibria in efforts space, which are separating almost certainly regardless of the share of low risks in the market. Empirical evidence from the Australian market for automobile insurance is analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Convergence has been achieved with both the developmental and test samples. Both consumer search and insurer selection are found to be positively correlated with risk type, providing a good measure of empirical support for the theoretical model.

Suggested Citation

  • David Rowell & Peter Zweifel, 2024. "Separating Equilibria with Search and Selection Effort: Evidence from the Auto Insurance Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-25, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:4:p:154-:d:1374218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/4/154/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/4/154/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dionne, Georges & Doherty, Neil A, 1994. "Adverse Selection, Commitment, and Renegotiation: Extension to and Evidence from Insurance Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 209-235, April.
    2. Rowell, David & Nghiem, Son & Connelly, Luke B., 2022. "Empirical tests for ex post moral hazard in a market for automobile insurance," Annals of Actuarial Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 243-260, July.
    3. Kosenko, Andrew & Stiglitz, Joseph & Yun, Jungyoll, 2023. "Bilateral information disclosure in adverse selection markets with nonexclusive competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 144-168.
    4. Gerald D. Jaynes, 2011. "Equilibrium and Strategic Communication in the Adverse Selection Insurance Model," Levine's Working Paper Archive 786969000000000243, David K. Levine.
    5. Pierre-Andre Chiappori & Bernard Salanie, 2000. "Testing for Asymmetric Information in Insurance Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(1), pages 56-78, February.
    6. Asheim, Geir B. & Nilssen, Tore, 1996. "Non-discriminating renegotiation in a competitive insurance market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1717-1736, December.
    7. Jaynes, Gerald D., 2011. "Equilibrium and Strategic Communication in the Adverse Selection Insurance Model," Working Papers 91, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    8. Fei Shi, 2008. "Endogenous Timing with Demand Uncertainty," TWI Research Paper Series 30, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    9. Wilson, Charles, 1977. "A model of insurance markets with incomplete information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 167-207, December.
    10. David M. Cutler & Sarah J. Reber, 1998. "Paying for Health Insurance: The Trade-Off between Competition and Adverse Selection," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 433-466.
    11. Andrea Attar & Thomas Mariotti & François Salanié, 2020. "The Social Costs of Side Trading," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(630), pages 1608-1622.
    12. Spence, Michael, 1978. "Product differentiation and performance in insurance markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 427-447, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kosenko, Andrew & Stiglitz, Joseph & Yun, Jungyoll, 2023. "Bilateral information disclosure in adverse selection markets with nonexclusive competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 144-168.
    2. Attar, Andrea & Mariotti, Thomas & Salanié, François, 2021. "Competitive Nonlinear Pricing under Adverse Selection," TSE Working Papers 21-1201, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Aug 2022.
    3. Andrea Attar & Thomas Mariotti & François Salanié, 2022. "Regulating Insurance Markets: Multiple Contracting And Adverse Selection," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(3), pages 981-1020, August.
    4. Daniel L. McFadden & Carlos E. Noton & Pau Olivella, 2012. "Remedies for Sick Insurance," NBER Working Papers 17938, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Georges Dionne & Casey G. Rothschild, 2011. "Risk Classification in Insurance Contracting," Cahiers de recherche 1137, CIRPEE.
    6. Sebastian Soika, 2018. "Moral Hazard and Advantageous Selection in Private Disability Insurance," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 43(1), pages 97-125, January.
    7. Georges Dionne & Casey Rothschild, 2014. "Economic Effects of Risk Classification Bans," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 39(2), pages 184-221, September.
    8. Thomas Mariotti, 2016. "Multiple Contracting in Insurance Markets," 2016 Meeting Papers 820, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Georges Dionne & Scott Harrington, 2017. "Insurance and Insurance Markets," Working Papers 17-2, HEC Montreal, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management.
    10. Joseph E. Stiglitz & Jungyoll Yun & Andrew Kosenko, 2017. "Equilibrium in a Competitive Insurance Market Under Adverse Selection with Endogenous Information," NBER Working Papers 23556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Georges Dionne & Nathalie Fombaron & Wanda Mimra, 2025. "Adverse Selection in Insurance," Springer Books, in: Georges Dionne (ed.), Handbook of Insurance, edition 0, pages 165-221, Springer.
    12. Ruo Jia & Zenan Wu, 2019. "Insurer commitment and dynamic pricing pattern," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 44(1), pages 87-135, March.
    13. Annette Hofmann & Mark Browne, 2013. "One-sided commitment in dynamic insurance contracts: Evidence from private health insurance in Germany," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 81-112, February.
    14. Ruo Jia & Zenan Wu, 2019. "Insurer commitment and dynamic pricing pattern," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, Springer;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 44(1), pages 87-135, March.
    15. Georges Dionne, 1998. "La mesure empirique des problèmes d’information," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 74(4), pages 585-606.
    16. Inderst, Roman & Wambach, Achim, 2001. "Competitive insurance markets under adverse selection and capacity constraints," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1981-1992, December.
    17. repec:bge:wpaper:620 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Keane, Michael, 2004. "Modeling Health Insurance Choices in “Competitive” Markets," MPRA Paper 55198, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Wanda Mimra & Achim Wambach, 2014. "New Developments in the Theory of Adverse Selection in Competitive Insurance," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 39(2), pages 136-152, September.
    20. Arthur Snow, 2009. "On the Possibility of Profitable Self‐Selection Contracts in Competitive Insurance Markets," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 76(2), pages 249-259, June.
    21. Wanda Mimra & Christian Waibel, 2025. "Contracting Environments and Efficiency in Markets with Hidden Information: An Experiment," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 35-74, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:4:p:154-:d:1374218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.